QR National CFO seeks ‘something different’

After five years with the company, QR National finance chief, Deborah O’Toole says the time was right to move on after the Queensland Government sold most of its remaining stake in QR National.

She will stay with the company to help with the handover to a new CFO until the end of the financial year.

O’Toole told CFO she didn’t know yet what her next role would be, but suggested it may not be a CFO role after 15 years as a CFO, five years of those at QR National (2 years as a private company). Prior to Queensland Rail she spent six years as CFO at MIM Holdings prior to its purchase by Xstrata.

“I am ready to do something different," she said. “[But] CFOs of large publicly listed companies really can’t be looking to do something else while in the role. It is all consuming, so you really don’t [get the time]."

“We have got the IPO away and I wanted to be here to see the forecasts that were in the offer document met and deliver the FY12 results [and] then break the back of the overhang of the government share holding. Now is a good time to leave," she said.

The listing required an overhaul of the finance team, including replacing most of the staff to those with private sector experience and the set up of a “capital excellence group".

Of the 9,500 strong workforce when it floated, the company has cut 1100 roles via two rounds of voluntary redundancies in part via the move from a “business model" structure to a “functional model", which shed duplicate roles.

The company’s share price rose from an issue price of $2.55 to a peak of $3.90 in February this year. It fell sharply to $3.20 between then and June, but has tracked back up to $3.75 on Friday, helped by the Queensland Government’s sale of most of the 33 per cent of the company it still held.